The present invention relates generally to an orthodontic bracket having a trapezoidal configuration wherein sight lines on the bracket are utilized to facilitate alignment and positioning of the bracket on the tooth.
There are numerous tooth configurations and sizes which vary from one patient to the next. In most cases, however, the majority of people having malposed teeth have teeth which conform to certain profiles and sizes such that orthodontic brackets mounted on the teeth can also be standardized to correspond to certain tooth sizes and configurations.
At the same time brackets are being standardized, they are also becoming smaller. With the advance of higher quality casting and finishing processes the sizes of orthodontic brackets have gotten smaller for a number of reasons, several of which are to reduce the cost of raw materials and for aesthetic purposes so as to draw less attention to the wearer. Smaller brackets are also advantageous since they reduce irritation and pain to the patient caused by larger brackets and appliances.
With the advent of the smaller bracket designs there has occurred several disadvantages. For example, the amount of time a patient is in the chair while the orthodontist is mounting orthodontic brackets has increased. This not only increases the cost to the patient, but reduces the efficiency of the orthodontist and reduces the amount of time he might spend with other patients. Further, smaller sized brackets increase the likelihood of misalignment of the bracket in relation to the tooth thereby causing several more problems. Misalignment results in difficulty in mounting the archwire in the archwire slot of the bracket and may also cause undesired or unplanned movement of a particular tooth, resulting in a longer time for treatment to move the tooth to the proper position. Misalignment of a bracket in relation to the tooth and the archwire might even require removal of the bracket and remounting.
Certain prior art patents purport to have design features which facilitate alignment of the bracket on the tooth. One such patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,330, discloses a bracket having a rhomboidal configuration which has edges that align, for example, with the occlusal plane and the crown long axis. The patent discloses tie wings having edges that are parallel to the crown long axis to assist in alignment during mounting of the bracket. Also, the occlusal and gingival tip of the tie wings are parallel to each other and to the occlusal plane again to facilitate alignment. The patent does not, however, have mesial and distal sides that are substantially parallel to the mesial and distal sides of the tooth upon which the bracket is mounted. Thus, with respect to the tooth configuration, the prior art patent ignores the shape of the tooth and its structural features.
The orthodontic bracket of the present invention was designed to obviate the problems in aligning and positioning a bracket on the tooth. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an orthodontic bracket having a trapezoidal configuration to substantially conform to the shape of the tooth.
It is another object of the invention to provide an orthodontic bracket having a trapezoidal configuration wherein sight lines are used to increase the accuracy in aligning and positioning the bracket on the tooth.
It is a further object of the invention to reduce the amount of time that a patient is in the chair while the orthodontist is mounting brackets.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an orthodontic bracket that will reduce the likelihood that an orthodontist will have to re-mount the bracket to correct for misalignment between the bracket and the tooth.